United States

The United States of America spans 9.8 million square kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, making it the third or fourth largest country on Earth (depending on how you measure). With 335 million people, 50 states, and territories from the Caribbean to the Pacific, the US contains more geographic, cultural, and culinary diversity than most Americans themselves realize. From the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the canyons of Utah, from Cajun Louisiana to the volcanoes of Hawaii, this is a continent masquerading as a country.

For international visitors, the US offers 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 63 national parks protecting some of the planet's most spectacular landscapes, world-class cities each with distinct personalities, and a road trip culture that is itself a defining American experience. The distances are vast — New York to Los Angeles is farther than London to Baghdad — and each region has its own accent, cuisine, history, and attitude. Don't try to see it all in one trip. Pick a region and go deep.

The land now called the United States was home to diverse Indigenous peoples for at least 15,000 years before European contact. Spanish, French, Dutch, and English colonization from the 16th century onward displaced and devastated native populations. Thirteen British colonies along the Atlantic coast declared independence in 1776, and the resulting nation expanded relentlessly westward through purchase, negotiation, and conquest.

The Civil War (1861–1865) over slavery nearly destroyed the union. The 20th century saw the US emerge as the world's dominant superpower through two world wars, the Cold War, the Space Race, and unprecedented economic growth. The civil rights movement, immigration waves, and cultural revolutions reshaped American society. Today the US remains the world's largest economy and most powerful military force, while grappling with internal divisions over identity, inequality, and its role in the world.

New York City is the US at its most intense — 8.3 million people, five boroughs, and an energy that never stops. Manhattan's skyline, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Broadway need no introduction. But Brooklyn's neighborhoods, Queens' ethnic diversity, and the High Line's elevated park deserve equal attention. New York is where the world comes to America.

Beyond NYC, the Northeast offers Boston's revolutionary history and academic prestige, Philadelphia's Independence Hall and cheesesteaks, Washington DC's monuments and free Smithsonian museums, New England's fall foliage and rocky coastline, and the Appalachian Trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. The region is the most densely populated and historically layered part of the country, where colonial churches stand beside modernist architecture.

The American West is where the country's mythology lives. The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Monument Valley, Death Valley, and the redwood forests are landscapes of almost incomprehensible scale and beauty. The national park system — ‘America's best idea’ — protects these treasures and makes them accessible through thousands of miles of trails, campgrounds, and scenic roads.

California alone would be the world's fifth-largest economy. San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley's vineyards, Los Angeles' entertainment industry, and San Diego's beaches span the coast. Las Vegas offers spectacle in the desert. The Pacific Northwest (Portland, Seattle) combines tech culture with outdoor adventure and exceptional coffee. Alaska and Hawaii represent the extremes — the largest and most isolated states, each with landscapes found nowhere else on Earth.

The American South has a culture, cuisine, and history all its own. New Orleans is America's most unique city — French Creole architecture, jazz on every corner, Cajun and Creole food, and Mardi Gras. Nashville is the capital of country music. Memphis has Beale Street blues and BBQ. Charleston and Savannah preserve antebellum architecture and Southern hospitality. The South's history of slavery and the civil rights movement is preserved at sites from Selma to the National Museum of African American History in DC.

The Midwest — often overlooked by international visitors — contains Chicago (world-class architecture, deep-dish pizza, the Art Institute), the Great Lakes, and vast agricultural heartlands. Route 66, the mythic highway from Chicago to Santa Monica, crosses the middle of America through small towns and open plains. The national parks of the upper Midwest (Boundary Waters, Badlands, Glacier) offer solitude and wilderness.

American food is far more diverse and sophisticated than the hamburger stereotype suggests (though a great American burger is a thing of beauty). Regional cuisines are distinct worlds: New England clam chowder and lobster rolls, Tex-Mex along the border, Cajun and Creole in Louisiana, Carolina BBQ (pork) vs. Kansas City BBQ (beef) vs. Texas BBQ (brisket), Hawaiian poke, and the farm-to-table movement that has transformed dining nationwide.

The US is also the world's greatest melting pot of immigrant cuisines. The best Chinese food outside Asia is in the San Gabriel Valley. New York's pizza and bagels reflect Italian and Jewish traditions. Ethiopian food in DC, Vietnamese pho in Houston, Mexican tacos in Los Angeles — each immigrant community has built culinary traditions that are now thoroughly American. Craft beer, bourbon, and the Napa/Sonoma wine regions add to the picture.

The United States is the world's largest wine consumer and its fourth-largest producer, with approximately 390,000 hectares under vine across all 50 states — though California alone accounts for roughly 85% of total production. From the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" — when Californian wines defeated top French wines in a blind tasting that shook the wine world — American wine has been a global force, producing everything from mass-market everyday wines to cult bottles that command thousands of dollars.

🌁 California

Napa Valley is the crown jewel — a 50-kilometre valley north of San Francisco that produces some of the world's most powerful and collectible Cabernet Sauvignon. Opus One (the Rothschild-Mondavi joint venture), Screaming Eagle (whose Cabernet is among the world's most expensive wines), Harlan Estate, Dominus, and Caymus represent the summit of Napa luxury. The valley's sub-AVAs — Oakville, Rutherford ("Rutherford Dust"), Stags Leap, Howell Mountain — each contribute distinct character. Sonoma County, Napa's larger, more diverse neighbour, produces exceptional Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast) and Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley). Paso Robles (Central Coast) has emerged as California's exciting frontier for Rhône varieties, while Santa Barbara County (Sta. Rita Hills) produces world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

🌲 Oregon, Washington & Beyond

Oregon's Willamette Valley — cool, misty, with volcanic Jory soils — has established itself as one of the world's great Pinot Noir regions, with Domaine Drouhin (the Burgundian house that validated Oregon), Eyrie Vineyards (the 1965 pioneer), and Beaux Frères producing wines that challenge Burgundy. Washington State — specifically the Columbia Valley, Walla Walla, and Red Mountain — produces powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah from irrigated desert vineyards, with Quilceda Creek, Leonetti, and L'Ecole No. 41 leading. New York (Finger Lakes Riesling), Virginia, and Texas represent the expanding frontier.

Beyond wine, America's craft spirits revolution has produced world-class bourbon (Kentucky — Pappy Van Winkle, Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve), rye whiskey, and an explosion of craft distilleries. The craft beer movement (IPAs, stouts, sours) has transformed American brewing into one of the world's most innovative.

Napa Valley — California's Crown Jewel of Wine · The 1976 Judgment of Paris put Napa on the world map. Today, it produces some of the most powerful and collectible Cabernet Sauvignon on Earth.

The US has major international airports in every region: JFK/Newark (NYC), LAX (LA), O'Hare (Chicago), ATL (Atlanta, the world's busiest), SFO (San Francisco), MIA (Miami), and many more. Domestic flights are the most efficient way to cover long distances. Amtrak trains serve the Northeast Corridor well but are slow elsewhere. Road trips are the quintessential American travel experience — interstate highways and the open road are part of the national identity.

The currency is the US dollar ($). Most international visitors need an ESTA (Visa Waiver Program) or a visa. Tipping is expected: 18–20% in restaurants, $1–2 per drink at bars. Healthcare is expensive — travel insurance is essential. Sales tax is not included in displayed prices and varies by state. The country spans six time zones. Cell coverage is excellent in cities, patchy in rural/wilderness areas. Driving is on the right; the legal drinking age is 21.

I write this Factbook for American travelers, which makes the United States entry the hardest one to write. How do you describe home to the people who live there? But here's the thing: most Americans have seen far less of their own country than they've seen of Europe or the Caribbean. The guy who's been to Paris three times has never seen the Grand Canyon. The woman who knows Rome inside-out has never driven through the Mississippi Delta.

My advice: before your next trip abroad, take that road trip you've been postponing. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway. Eat your way through New Orleans. Stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon at sunrise and try not to cry. Hike in Glacier National Park before the glaciers are gone. This country is absurdly, overwhelmingly beautiful, and its diversity — geographic, cultural, culinary — rivals anything on Earth. You don't need a passport to have the trip of a lifetime.

— Radim Kaufmann, Kaufmann World Travel Factbook